Most of the West Coast was primitive at the time. The village of Portland did not appear on a map until 1845. Seattle and Tacoma were also mere villages. For several more decades, the biggest and most successful of the three isolated communities was the river city of Portland. It recorded 2,874 residents in 1860 and a mere 8,293 as late as 1870.

Civic leaders in Tacoma and rival Seattle had long dreamed of forging direct rail connections to the outside world. They needed to create links between the farm and ranch lands of eastern Washington and the ocean shipping companies that sailed from Pacific Northwest ports to California, Asia and Europe. The ports of Puget Sound had for years envied Portland, which benefited from a system of river highways. Now, with railroad technology and a new bridge across the Columbia River, Portland lost its geographic advantage. Cargoes could speed between the wharves of Tacoma and Seattle (bypassing Portland) on their way to markets in the East.

With that development, a familiar story had been repeated. Remember what happened when railroad tracks first crossed the Mississippi. It benefited rail-oriented Chicago at the expense of river-oriented Saint Louis. Three decades later, a rail bridge was built over the Columbia River at Pasco. This favored the newer cities of Tacoma and Seattle over Portland. Like Saint Louis, Portland had grown smug and prosperous. It had taken for granted the river commerce and the steamboat fleet that brought valuable commerce through the city.